Stone Cold - Hardcover

Hautman, Pete

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689817592 ISBN 13: 9780689817595

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1998

Synopsis

After Denn joins a neighborhood poker game, he gets a fake ID to gamble at a local casino for higher and higher stakes and wins tens of thousands of dollars, but soon Denn notices that the cards mean more to him than his family, friends, and girlfriend.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Although this tale of a teenager's descent into the world of high-stakes poker lacks the labyrinthine yet crystal-clear plotting of Mr. Was, Hautman nonetheless holds a wild card in his hand. Denn has always been obsessed with money, but his life is otherwise normal. He has a thriving landscaping business and a longtime girlfriend. But both of these quickly disappear when Denn discovers poker. He moves from living-room games with a group of boozy tough kids to the $1000 tables at a local casino, in and out of Gamblers Anonymous and finally to a private game where the sky's the limit. The wild card is that Hautman does not turn this into a problem novel. Instead, it's the story of a boy who finds he has talent and works to develop it. Despite accusations of immorality and addiction, Denn sees himself as a child prodigy. He studies hard?identifying his opponents' "tells" and learning the odds for completing different hands?and he wins continuously. This bitter, almost amoral novel ends with Denn, at age 16, living alone and owning the casino. He struggles to explain the appeal of the game, why it's worth giving up his normal life: "Money and winning were important, sure, but they weren't what kept me awake at night. It was the action, the ebb and flow of fate, the expressions on the faces of the players, the sounds and smells of the casino. But most of all it was the cards." Swift and salacious, Hautman's latest compellingly echoes gambling's siren call. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A teenager discovers an unexpected talent and runs with it in this perceptive cautionary tale from Hautman (Mr. Was, 1996). Denn Doyle discovers a quicker way to raise the money for a used car than summer lawn work when an acquaintance invites him into a poker game. He wins, and keeps on winning, and soon he's winning so much that he lets his friend Murky take over the mowing business completely. Armed with a fake ID, he becomes a fixture at the local casino, winning over $10,000 in one glorious 30-hour visit. Money has lost its glamour; Denn loves the game's ebb and flow, and spotting the ``tells,'' or gestures, through which other players betray themselves. Although Hautman trots out some typecast teaching characters - the wise old card sharp, the sober but alcoholic Irish priest, and Murky, who becomes the worst sort of compulsive gambler - he also captures Denn's calculated, almost inhuman concentration ``in the zone,'' and his profound satisfaction afterwards. In a climax that reads like the Big Game in an above-average sports novel, Denn returns to the table (against his parents' wishes) to attempt to rescue Murky, and in a high-stakes confrontation with a professional gambler, makes an absolute killing. He ends up owning the town's finest gourmet restaurant; still only 16, he waits in his office for the next game, the next hand. Readers will understand too well how empty his triumph is. (Fiction. 12-15) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0689817592
• ISBN 13: 9780689817595
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176